Originally Posted by
grolby
Use something, get familiar with it, get accustomed to beating on it for thousands of miles with no problems whatsoever and you get pretty comfortable with it. This debate is mostly about familiarity and comfort, not so much about safety per se.
Not always true. As previously posted, I commuted for 8 years on a CF fork (and seat stays) with no problems whatsoever. All the thousands of miles of pounding left me more concerned with possible damage/failure, not less. Nothing lasts forever... except love.
Re: safety. Fork failure is fairly rare, regardless of the material. But CF and steel can't both be the same: One material or the other has to be
even less likely to fail in a crash inducing manner than the other. How many people who have actually researched the topic can honestly say CF is less likely to fail than steel?
Even if small, why take unnecessary risk? To save a pound? On a loaded touring bike? Seems misguided to me.